Add a new page

This is a page dedicated to breaking down the mechanics for certain systems that have not been explained 100%.

Activating a Fetish

The pool for activating a Fetish is Purity - Fetish's level, and requires only one success to activate. If this draw fails, the user can also spend an Gnosis to automatically activate the Fetish.

Changing Forms

The pool for shifting forms is Stamina + Survival + Rage (using the base Stamina, not augmented from forms). If this challenge succeeds, the character can then shift to any form they desire. This action is an Instant action, but takes the entire turn. If the challenge is an Exceptional Success, the shifting happens as a reflexive action, allowing another action to be taken in that turn. Alternatively, a player may spend a point of Gnosis for the character to change shape as a reflexive action with no draw required.

This does not apply for characters shifting back to their natural form; no roll is necessary for this, and the action is Reflexive.

Partial Delirium and Full Delirium

Human beings have long instinctual memory, where by their very nature they instinctively remember the times of the Impergium, where the Garou methodically hunted and killed any human they could find. Because of this, when witnessing a Garou outside of Homid or Lupus form, that instinctual memory may cause the human to fall into Delirium.

Delirium has the potential to affect any humans who witness a Garou in any of the hybrid forms, Glabro, Crinos, or Hispo. This isn't a power that werewolves turn on and off (though it may be controlled by Gifts) - it is constantly active while werewolves are in those forms. Those affected by Delirium are possessed by irrational fears. Most are likely to block out the memories of events - presuming they survive.

When a human observer clearly sees a werewolf in any of these forms, he is affected by the Delirium to a degree that depends on his Willpower dots. He might run in terror, curl up into a catatonic ball or even stand his ground. Lunacy is strongest when facing a werewolf in nightmarish Crinos form. Onlookers use the following chart to determine the effects, depending on their Willpower. An onlooker gains +2 to Willpower when observing a Garou in Glabro or Hispo forms (Partial Delirium), but receive no bonus when observing a Garou in Crinos form (Full Delirium).

The user of certain clearly supernatural Gifts, Rites or Fetishes, even when a character is in Homid or Lupus forms, might also trigger Delirium (although onlookers are at +5 effective Willpower). This Willpower boost is only for the purposes of determining observers' reaction to Delirium, and cannot take effective Willpower higher than 10.

• Willpower 1–2: Most humans at this level have suffered great trauma or are impaired in some way. They lack even the slightest protection against Delirium. An onlooker has no control over his actions and could go catatonic, suffer a heart attack, revert to animalistic behavior (hiding in dark places and snarling, tearing at his clothes) or perform practically suicidal actions in an attempt to escape (such as throwing himself out of a tenth-story window). Any actions taken suffer a –5 penalty out of fear. Victims don’t remember the scene at all, and they refuse to believe any evidence that implies they were present at such a scene.

• Willpower 3–4: This is the level of the average to slightly below average human in the World of Darkness. Delirium affects them as fear affects herd animals. Onlookers are likely to flee in abject terror and have no real control over their actions. All actions that might be taken (attempting to drive a car, climb a fence) incur a –4 penalty. Onlookers don’t remember the event save in the most general sense, and they always rationalize it. ("Yeah, three years ago I saw this girl get attacked by some pit bull that had gotten loose. I’d rather not talk about it. It was pretty bad.")

• Willpower 5–7: Humans at this level have above-average strength of will, but still not enough to cope with the Garou. A person is overcome with fear and attempts to flee in panic. She has some control over her actions, though. If she attempts to hide in a building, she has the presence of mind to lock the door. If the victim is cornered, she might fight, albeit in a berserk state. Any actions the person takes suffer a –3 penalty. She forgets the event unless she attempts to actively remember it (under questioning, for instance). Attempting to remember the event requires an Intelligence + Composure roll at a –3 penalty (see World of Darkness Rulebook, p. 44). Success on this roll allows the character to remember general circumstances, but not the true nature of the Garou. An exceptional success allows her to remember with perfect clarity. A roll must be made each time she attempts to remember the scene, though. Her mind and soul want to forget.

• Willpower 8–9: Humans at this level have exceptional self-control. A subject still feels great terror and an almost irresistible desire to flee, but a Willpower point may be spent to retain control for a turn. Any actions suffer a –1 penalty, save in a turn in which a Willpower point has been. The victim always retains a hazy, nightmarish half-memory of the event, but she must make a conscious effort to focus directly on it. Attempting to remember the event requires an Intelligence + Composure roll at a –2 penalty. Success on this roll allows the character to remember the event, but not the true nature of the Garou. An exceptional success allows her to remember with perfect clarity. This roll must be made each time the subject attempts to remember the scene.

• Willpower 10: The rarest of the rare, humans with this level of Willpower are practically made of iron. The subject is completely unaffected by the Delirium. She has control over her actions and remembers the event as clearly as she remembers any other significant event in her life.

Even photographic records of the Garou benefit from the protection of Delirium to a limited degree. Although a snapshot taken of a werewolf in Garou doesn’t frighten anyone who looks at it, most humans (Willpower 8 or lower) simply refuse to believe that the picture could be more than a hoax.

No pack of Garou should ever rely on Delirium as their only method of avoiding detection. A human with high enough Willpower dots can shrug off the effects for a short time, and if such a person flees the scene, he might remember what happened and look for explanations.

Healing and Regeneration

Regeneration, like healing, always occurs from right to left on the Health chart. Bashing wounds are regenerated first, then lethal wounds, and regeneration always occurs at the beginning of a character's action in a turn. Garou automatically heal one level of bashing damage per turn, as long as they pause for a moment to allow the action to happen; no roll is necessary for this, but an Instant action is required to heal.

A Gnosis point may be spent for a werewolf to regenerate one point of lethal damage instead of the point of bashing; a bashing and a lethal cannot be healed in the same turn this way. A player may spend this Gnosis reflexively to regenerate points of lethal damage when the character is unconscious and bleeding to death.

Lethal wounds naturally heal one point every 15 minutes.

Silver and Aggravated Damage

Silver, in it's pure form, causes aggravated damage to Garou. It must be in it's pure form to inflict the aggravated damage; alloys, electroplated coatings, and compounds such as silver nitrate are painful and irritating to a Garou, but they don't inflict aggravated damage.

Silver isn't the best metal for bullets or weapons, and inflicts a -1 Damage rating when it is involved in an attack. A revolver with silver bullets, for example, has a damage rating of 2 instead of the standard 3. A greatsword made of sufficient amounts of pure silver (ie, the majority of it's mass is silver) has a damage rating of 3 instead of 4. <need to convert to GMC damage>

Silver does not inflict damage by simple contact.

Taking aggravated damage, from any source, forces a Resolve + Composure draw, or the character falls into Frenzy.

Gnosis and Extra Actions

Gnosis may be spent to take extra actions during a turn, these extra actions taking place at the same initiative as your normal. This is limited by Rage in terms of how much Gnosis can be spent per turn.

Frenzy

A Frenzying Garou automatically enters Crinos form as a reflexive action, and stays in that form until the Frenzy ends (Resolve + Composure - Primal Urge draw to end Frenzy, 2 successes required with one additional success required for each successive challenge to end Frenzy). Each turn the character is in Frenzy, they must spend at least 2 Essence, granting them additional actions for each Essence spent, and gain a +2 to all combat-related draws. The rate that the Garou can spend Essence is determined by Primal Urge + 3 when in Frenzy. So a Garou with Primal Urge 1 base can spend 2 Essence per turn, as if they possessed Primal Urge 4, while a Garou with Primal Urge 3 can spend 3 Essence per turn as if they possessed Primal Urge 6.

Primary Renown (WIP)

Each Tribe and Auspice has a Primary Renown that they are closely tied to, and can overlap. A Get of Fenris Galliard would have Purity and Glory as their Primary Renown, but a Shadow Lord Ragabash would only have Cunning as their Primary Renown.

The Primary Renown is the highest renown that a character can have of the five, and any other Renown cannot go above it until that Primary Renown is raised. For example, a Child of Gaia Philodox with Honor ••• and Purity •• can have up to three dots in any other Renown category, but cannot raise to •••• without first increasing his Honor or Purity to ••••.

Garou and the Moon

Garou and the moon, or Luna, hold a special relationship. Luna grants the Garou their gift of Rage and Gnosis, and through her, Garou can regain Gnosis just by a simple look. If the moon is in the phase for a Garou's Auspice, they regain all spent Gnosis by taking an Instant action to look at the moon. This can be done once per night.

If a Garou outside the auspice corresponding to the moon's current phase, they gain a number of Gnosis equal to the following chart, based on the moon's phase.

There is a downside to this, however. While the moon is directly visible to the Garou, they gain a penalty to resist Frenzy equal to the Gnosis Gained (below). This is for those Garou who are of the auspice that correspond's to the moon's phase, and is only when outside and the moon's light is shining on the Garou.